My Kind of Perfect (4 page)

Or was I?

No, this must be a joke. Everything was just a joke. Nothing
was real. This was just a dream.

I shut my eyes close, taking in mind that this was only a
dream. A mere fragment of my imagination. Reality wasn’t supposed to be this
harsh even if a black cat turned its back on me hours ago. When I opened my
eyes, I saw that I was still on the floor. I tried again. Some things actually
happened the second time around. I closed my eyes and counted to three once
more.

Then I said to myself,
‘Open it now!
Surprise! Nothing is real!’

I looked around the room and it told me otherwise. Oh my
gosh! This was not a nightmare. This was real. I pinched my cheeks and it
actually hurt.

Ouch.

My phone suddenly started ringing again. I hurriedly grabbed
it. It must be Aaron and he was about to tell me that he was just kidding and
instead he would actually surprise me with a marriage tomorrow. I looked at the
caller’s name and stared at it for a while hoping that I just read it wrong.

It was Sandy.

“Hello?” I answered gloomily.

“Kayla, I’m sorry. I was trying to call you earlier but I
couldn’t seem to get through,” she said. I wondered why I was hearing another
‘sorry’ word again. This was Sandy we were talking about. She was my best friend
and we didn’t fight that often.

“Why?”

“Remember the investment we made with
All is Good Company
?” she began. I remembered that
one. We invested all our savings in their new product. I wondered if we had
doubled our money that fast.

Wow! I was still lucky, I guessed.

“What about them?” I excitedly asked her, hoping to finally
hear some good news.

“Uhmm... they are...” she said, stalling with the words.

“They are?” I asked her again.

“They disappeared,” she blurted. My shoulders dropped down
in surprise. This was not the news that I was expecting to hear.

“They what?” I exclaimed.

“I went back to their office today and they weren’t there
anymore,” said Sandy.

“Sandy, what happened to our money?” I hurriedly asked her.

Oh no, she shouldn’t tell me that... that... that!

“I’m afraid they took it all with them,” she said with a
rattling voice. Then I heard her soft cries as she held back the verge of tears
that came out after.

“What? But I thought that it was a trustworthy investment?”
I dejectedly asked her as I felt my own voice shaking.

My savings. All my life savings. I trusted it to my good old
friend. She was the one who told me that she heard of a good investment. I
actually got busy for the past few days that I never got the chance to look at
it with her. And now what? My whole life worth of savings was gone?

“Are you still there, Kayla?” asked Sandy on the other line.
“What should we do?”

“Just do what you can to get it back. I’m having a
headache,” I said before hanging up. I pressed my phone to my forehead in
dismay.

In a moment, I suddenly felt my whole world spinning. This
couldn’t be. This was just one nightmare and I had to wake up now.

I got up and headed towards the bathroom, turning on the
shower and putting my face underneath the flowing water. I felt shivers coming
down to my spine as the cold water hit me. Okay, enough, so this was real. I
turned the shower off and headed outside of the bathroom. Grabbing my coat from
the sofa and putting it on, I decided to go out.

Disregarding my broken stiletto and ripped up pantyhose, I
slipped into a pair of ballet shoes. I locked my apartment door and walked
outside, still having no idea where I was going. But I felt the need for some
fresh air to clear up my confused mind so I went nonetheless.

I randomly walked down the streets as the thoughts of
everything that had occurred today flashed back and forth inside my mind. I
hadn’t given a care about those people who stared at me like I was some
psychotic. They could think all they want. What else could I lose when I
already lost everything?

All I needed was some place to clear my mind.

Taking deep breaths, I kept on making myself believe that
everything was just a dream and when I woke up, it would all be over. I felt
like I was floating in the air as I trod the busy streets of New Waulds.

As I continued walking around, I heard some chatter that
turned into shouting then finally screaming. I disregarded them all. I wasn’t
in the mood to pay any attention to them. I was worn out to even think about my
surrounding. But then suddenly from afar, I heard one loud honking of a horn
before I felt something bumping me from the side, of which instantly sent me
flying down to the ground.

Thud.

I stared at the street as I felt the pain taking over my
aching head. And in another moment, my mind went blank and I lost consciousness
altogether. Still, there was no explanation whatsoever why these things were
continuously happening to me.

“Aaaaaah!” I exclaimed as I opened my eyes.

I felt my heart beating wildly in my chest. The cold
droplets that formed on my forehead found its way down and I carefully wiped it
away. Looking around me, I saw that I was in an uncomfortable, rigid bed that
was covered with floral sheet. And I also noticed that I was dressed in clothes
that almost had the same print as the bed covering. So unfashionable. I
continued scanning the room and was trying to figure out where I was. The smell
of the place was suffocating, much like a disinfectant and it made me want to
throw up.

What was this place?

“You’re finally awake. Are you okay?” I heard someone said.
I looked to my right and saw my mom who was holding my right hand. Worry was
painted all over her face.

“Mom?” I asked her, confused.

I looked around and saw that I was in a room that was tinted
in absolute white

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Then I felt that tingly sensation in my arms, like something
was entering my body. I looked down and saw a needle inserted in my veins.
After which, it dawned to me that I was in a hospital bed. And I was the
patient? Something was definitely wrong.

“Where am I?” I asked Mom.

“Oh dear, I’m glad you’re awake now,” she said, still
holding my hand. Tears were touching the corners of her green eyes. Then after
a moment, she started crying.

I reached out to her and wiped away the tears in her eyes.
“What happened?”

“Don’t you remember? A car hit you yesterday,” she said
while sobbing. Her honey-blonde hair was all over her face and was unkempt
contrary to how she tidied it constantly so before. Then she cupped my right
hand with both of hers and tenderly caressed it with her face. Then thoughts
came into mind as I tried remembering what had happened to me.

I reckoned that I did remember a car coming my way before
everything went blank. A car? Uhmm... yesterday? Oh, yeah, so yesterday did
really happen.

For a moment, I thought that it was all part of a dream. But
as if to answer my speculations, the memories of yesterday came back to me in a
flash. I closed my eyes and let out a big sigh. Now tell me that surviving was
the only good thing that had happened to me.

“Are you okay dear?” asked Mom worriedly.

I wanted to shout,
‘No, Mom! I lost
my job and my boyfriend broke up with me and all my savings are gone. How am I
supposed to be okay?’
But I held it back, knowing that this wasn’t the
right time to blabber about all that. I just pretended to have a headache
instead. And so I murmured, “Oh… my... head.”

“I’ll... I’ll... call the doctor,” she said, touching my
hand before heading outside. Yeah, it wasn’t as if the doctor could reverse
everything that happened yesterday.

Why did I even survive?

After a while, I heard the door creak open. Keeping my eyes
closed, I hadn’t even bothered to look at it knowing that it was just my mom
and a doctor, I supposed. Then in a while, I felt someone holding my forehead
and putting something cold on my chest. I opened my eyes and saw a doctor
examining me.

“Are you feeling okay?” he asked in the most formal manner
there was.

I narrowed my eyes in dismay as I cringed on the words
‘okay’. I closed my eyes again and replied a cold-hearted, “No.”

“Oh.” He seemed surprised at my answer. “Your test result
came in and everything seemed to be fine. Are you hurting anywhere?”

Test results.

I silently laughed in my mind as I thought if those test
results could elaborate what was going on with my life right now. I suddenly
felt like I was hurting everywhere. Why did he even bother asking? My whole
life was a mess.

I replied with a sigh, “No. Actually, I’m feeling all better
and ready to go out.”

He blinked twice and looked at me questioningly. Then he
cleared his throat and finally said, “Then I guess I can let you go out today.”

I nodded in agreement.

“I’ll get on with the papers,” said Mom as she walked out of
the room with the doctor.

I removed the needle from my arm, wanting to get out of here
this instant. The nurse seemed to be displeased with what I had done and put
some cotton and tape over the puncture. I survived a car accident. What could lost
of minute amounts of blood do to me?

Then shortly after, following some unfavorable remarks from
my attending nurse while she helped me put on some normal clothes, I was guided
out of the hospital. And after a moment of paper works, I finally got
discharged and was guided out.

Argh. I hated that reeking smell.

Looking at myself, I knew I wasn’t hurting anymore,
physically speaking though. I got bluish bruises on my legs but that was it.
And a scratch or two. Well, maybe just a minor headache every now and then that
I was sure would go away in no time. Still, being alive after all that, could
that be considered an achievement?

Must be so.

I asked my mom to bring me back to my apartment instead of
dragging me down to our old house. But of course, my mom didn’t let me off that
easy but I continuously begged her to do so. And finally, after several minutes
of bickering inside the car, she finally dropped me off in front of my
apartment.

All in all, the patient was always right.

Saying a quick goodbye, I trod my way back inside and saw
the mess I left yesterday. All my things were still on the floor but I hadn’t
even bothered to pick them up. Instead, I lazily lay down on the sofa. Now,
since I was jobless, heartbroken and didn’t have a single cent, what was I
supposed to do?

I picked myself up and opened my laptop to look at my
horoscope for the day:

Today is the day when you mend those loose threads in your
life. You need to fix some things in order to get over your bad luck. Maybe you
want to visit some fortune teller to tell you what to do. A bright future
awaits you so get up and get going!

I suddenly felt alive as I read the words. The horoscope was
once again correct. I only needed to fix my bad luck and everything would turn
out fine. I might even get a call from Aaron. And then I would find a nice job
tomorrow. Sandy would be able to get back all our savings.

All I needed to do was to fix whatever that bad luck was.

I took a quick shower to remove the hospital smell that
lingered on my skin. Finally, after scrubbing myself until I was officially
spotless, I felt fresh and clean. I managed to get out alive from everything
that happened. There must be a grander plan for me after all.

‘That’s the spirit, Kayla!’
I
said to myself again. Oh wait, why did I do that? I shook my head and shrugged
off the thoughts of me talking to myself again, thinking that the bump I got
yesterday permanently damaged my perfect being.

I put on some fresh clothes and got out. I went down the
next block and saw the fortune teller’s shop on the right. I sort of heard that
there was one here. And I knew that this place held the perfect answer for my
not so lucky yesterday. When I was a little way from it, I paused for a while
and assessed the place.

Okay, honestly speaking, it was kind of creepy.

The sign was crooked. It was like a storm passed by and no
one bothered to straighten it out. There were cobwebs everywhere. Was that part
of the shop or did the spiders find their home in here after several years of
neglect?

I pushed the door and it creaked open creepily which sent
goose bumps all over my body. The room was dimly lit and I wasn’t able to
clearly see anything except for the total darkness.

I tried asking, “Anyone there?”

For a moment, no one answered. Then as I was about to go
back, I heard someone say an eerie, “Come in.”

I looked around and was caught off guard when I saw the
fortune teller’s table lit up against the dark room. I was startled, taking
several steps back.

Uhmm... wow? Quite the effects, huh?

Then after a while, I saw an old lady dressed in all black,
who was holding a magic ball in her hands sat behind the table. She asked me to
sit in the chair in front of her. I hesitantly obeyed. I wasn’t quite sure
about this all now. But I convinced myself that it wouldn’t hurt to try.

“I know what you came here for,” she started. Wow! She
already knew. She was good. I nodded and she went on, “You have quite a bad
luck yesterday, don’t you?”

I hastily nodded in agreement. “And what do you suppose is
the reason for that?”

She rubbed her magic ball. “You offended a soul years ago.”

“Huh?” I asked her, blinking twice. What was she talking
about? Me? Offending anyone? Let alone a soul. I was starting to doubt her
ingenuity.

“You hurt an earnest soul who sincerely loved you,” she
continued.

Okay, definitely fake.

“Really?” I wondered what we were talking about. She said
that I hurt a soul that loved me. Well, I do admit that I did dump a few guys
before.